The late legendary American rhythm and blues singer songwriter Ray Charles’ ‘What Would I Do Without You‘ showed up on Ted Lasso this week — Ted Lasso, Season 3, Episosde 7, “The Strings That Bind Us“.
The song played on the episode as Sam shows up at the restaurant and the staff are watching the news about the boat refugees.
And yes, the writers of Ted Lasso are trying to push a left-wing pro-refugee message that most of the population of the UK is against, as record numbers of illegal immigrants continue arriving on the small island of 68 million people every year.
(Like I said in a previous article, the third season of Ted Lasso has gone irrevocably “woke”, which is why I fast forward through most of it nowadays).
As for Ray Charles’ ‘What Would I Do Without You‘…
Ray Charles’ ‘What Would I Do Without You‘ came out in 1954 and then again in 1958 on the singer’s fourth studio album Yes Indeed!!, which was released on the Atlantic record label.
The song was released as the second single from the album.
The track came out again in 2005, a year after his death, on the singer songwriter and pianist’s Pure Genius: The Complete Atlantic Recordings 1952-1959 album.
Ray Charles himself was known not only for being a blind musician and singer, but also for being a musical genius.
His professional career began in 1948 when he founded an R&B group with friends. They recorded their debut single a year later.
Over the years, Ray Charles then went on to become one of America’s most well-known and most iconic musicians.
During his more than 50-year career, Ray Charles did have his ups and downs both musically and personally but, by the time of his death at age 73 in June, 2004, the American musician was widely regarded by many in the music industry as one of the most influential and important artists of the 20th century.
Listen to Ray Charles’ ‘What Would I Do Without You‘ as heard on Ted Lasso in the video, and on the Spotify player.
You can listen to a lot more music from Ted Lasso here on Leo Sigh.